New Influence: Recent Episodes
Stephen Davies
New Influence by Stephen Davies is a podcast covering the new technologies influencing business, culture and the world today. Find out more at https://www.stedavies.com/podcast/
Speak with any finance expert and they'll tell you the key to long-term wealth is asset accumulation.
This is for two reasons. First, assets earn you money while you sleep and, second, they usually appreciate the longer you hold on to them.
A house will be worth more in twenty years than it is today if past performance is anything to go by. Likewise, a bar of gold will be too.
Our finance expert should also tell you to invest in assets that pay you income, like a business, rental property or a dividend stock.
Owning an income-paying asset usually requires an upfront investment. To own a piece of a business you either need capital to buy into it or time and sweat equity to build it. Likewise, owning rental property requires either a large cash lump sum or a long-term mortgage.
In other words, acquiring physical assets requires time, effort and/or capital.
Intangible digital assets are a new investing opportunity
We're in a period of accelerated change and are deeply entrenched in the digital revolution which started in the 1990s and has many decades more to play out.
We're in the era of what MicroStrategy CEO, Michael Saylor, calls the "dematerialization of industries." This is where individual products and entire industries are becoming digitised largely because of the iPhone.
"The iPhone has dematerialized everything you can hold in your hand. Books, cameras, wallets, TVs etc have all dematerialized into the Apple network. Every wealthy person I know has an iPhone which means 90% of the wealth on the planet is going to get everything from the multi-trillion dollar Apple network."
Michael Saylor
Dematerialization is nothing new. The idea of buying a CD to listen to music or a DVD to watch a film seems ridiculous today. And, of course, no-one has sent a letter in decades.
Dematerialization is making intangible digital assets a new investing opportunity. The internet is creating new asset classes that perhaps can benefit everybody not just the wealthy.
Bitcoin is the ultimate digital asset
The current bitcoin narrative is it is the digital version of gold. This is because both gold and bitcoin share similar intangible properties. Tangibly they couldn't be further apart since gold is a lump of metal and bitcoin is lines of code. Intangibly they share qualities such as scarcity and fungibility which help to increase their value.
Michael Saylor believes bitcoin is a better asset than gold and has put his money where his mouth is. Earlier this year, MicroStrategy bought $425 million worth of bitcoin with its cash reserves. The reason being is that the cash was losing value each year - especially in the Covid era of quantitive easing - and bitcoin is proving to be an excellent store of wealth.
This meme video explains his reasons well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFwj-6RGGC8
Domain names are one of the oldest digital assets
Saylor obviously understands the long-term value of holding digital assets. MicroStrategy owns several premium domain names which the company has held for many years. Some of these include stategy.com, glory.com and speaker.com among others. Last year the company sold voice.com for a cool $30 million.
You don't have to own a premium domain name to consider it an asset. For example, take my site's URL. Given my name is the actual URL, chances are it will only have value to me and those who share the same name as me. Nevertheless, a digital asset it is.
It's not just TLDs that have value also. Social media handles and names can go for thousands on the black market. Social networks such as Twitter does not permit the trading of its usernames but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
Domain names are one of the oldest digital assets and despite the increase of new domain extensions (.co, .biz etc) and country-level domains (.co.uk, .de etc) they continue to hold and increase their value today.
Josh Lachkovic is the founder & CEO of Wine List. Prior to launching Wine List, Josh had a career in marketing & growth, starting his career in content, SEO, and insights at PR agency Hotwire. He then joined Pact Coffee's growth team to turn his hand to print marketing and partnerships. Following this he went to an education company where he was responsible for breathing startup process into an established business. Before founding The Wine List he spent three years as employee number one at digital health company, Thriva, where he led and built the growth side of the business.
Show highlights
3:55 Josh introduces himself and how he got to where he is today.
7:21 From a passion to a business. How Josh got into the wine business.
9:38 The Wine List business model.
14:34 Josh teaches Ste a bit about wine.
20:52 Acquiring customers for The Wine List.
24:48 How Covid-19 has accelerated the ecommerce industry.
33:44 Is Amazon making it difficult for DTC brands to compete?
38:56 The current state of Facebook ads.
44:21 The one book Josh recommends everyone should read.
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
The Wine List - thewinelist.net
Josh on Twitter - @JoshLachkovic
The Wine List on Twitter - @thewinelist_uk
Jeff Raider on founding Warby Parker and Harry's - Spotify
Taylor Lorenz article on TikTok - nytimes.com
Josh's book recommendation - Alchemy
Dan is the co-founder of 3Speak.online, a video platform providing a censor-free environment for content creators who have been de-platformed or demonetised by Silicon Valley. Dan is also an entrepreneur, investor and crypto enthusiast.
Show highlights
3:03 Dan introduces himself and how he got to where he is today.
5:40 Mainstream censorship and why Dan co-founded 3Speak.
13:22 Dan the formation of Hive and the Steem controversy.
19:48 The benefits of using Hive.
22:33 EOS and Voice.com.
24:51 Consensus and community. Moving from Web 2 to Web 3.
30:40 Bitcoin maximalism vs the tokenisation of everything.
32:40 Applying lessons from poker to investing.
34:40 Dan's currently dancing in the markets.
37:00 The one book Dan recommends everyone should read.
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
Dan on 3Speak - 3speak.online
PeakD - peakd.com
Steem to Freeze Another $5M in Tokens Associated With Hive Supporters - cointelegraph.com
LBRY - lbry.com
Voice - voice.com
Brave browser - stedavies.com
Dan's book recommendation - Mastery
Danny is currently the CEO and co-founder of CoinCorner, a bitcoin exchange in the UK. A software developer turned entrepreneur, Danny first heard of bitcoin during University in 2009, but didn't pay attention to it until 2011/12 while working at an internet startup that looked to use it as a competitive advantage. After this company was successfully acquired he went on to co-found a software company in 2012. Providing software solutions, the business worked with clients such as Microsoft and Tunstall Health Care.
After trying to buy and mine bitcoin (both proved difficult to do in 2013) with his co-founder, they recognised that there was a gap in the UK market for a safe and simple place to buy bitcoin. CoinCorner was founded in 2014 with the aim of making bitcoin easy and accessible to UK customers and now, 6 years on, CoinCorner is one of the UK's leading bitcoin exchanges.
Show highlights
1:57 Danny introduces himself, CoinCorner and how he got into bitcoin.
14:30 How to explain bitcoin to someone who's new to it.
18:50 The big picture narrative of bitcoin.
26:56 The concept of money has changed throughout time.
29:31 The current state of bitcoin in 2020.
34:21 Bitcoin adoption in the UK and how the government and public have responded to it.
48:02 Bitcoin maximalism vs altcoin acceptance.
55:34 The advice Danny would give to someone looking to get into bitcoin.
60:52 Danny's one book he recommends everyone should read.
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
CoinCorner - coincorner.com
Danny on Twitter - @CoinCornerDanny
Mt. Gox - wikipedia.org
The bitcoin whitepaper - bitcoin.org
The Lightning Network - investopedia.com
Paul Tudor Jones buys bitcoin as a hedge against inflation - bloomberg.com
FCA provides clarity on current cryptoassets regulation - fca.org.uk
Hyperbitcoinization - stedavies.com
How to buy bitcoin in the UK
Danny's book recommendation - Factfulness
"Markets are conversations" is the central theme of the 1999 book, The Cluetrain Manifesto, which predicted that the internet was about to unleash new ways for people to communicate with each other.
This Cambrian explosion of conversations would inevitably allow businesses to be a part of them creating a new dynamic of brand and customer interaction.
The book says as the internet proliferated throughout the world, new channels such as websites, forums, chat groups and email would revolutionise how consumers and businesses interact.
Noticeably the authors failed to predict the rise of blogs, podcasts, online video and social media platforms, as well as the smartphone revolution and its accompanying apps.
They also failed to predict the major cultural and political impact social media would have (and is still having) on society too.
Predicting the future is hard and anything beyond five years is just a guess.
The world was a different place in 1999 yet The Cluetrain Manifesto provided (an underestimated) glimpse into the changing paradigm that was heading our way.
Financial markets are conversations too
Another trend on the horizon is the coming together of mobile, social media and the financial markets.
A perfect storm is brewing between smartphone apps that provide easy access to the markets and the formation of communities and influencers who can collectively manipulate the price of a financial asset like a stock or crypto.
These apps are giving people around the world access to high profile stocks, ETFs and commodities on well-known indexes like the Nasdaq, S&P and FTSE.
You don't have to be rich to use them either. You can buy a fractional share of a stock meaning you don't have to buy a whole one but instead a fraction of one.
For example, a 19-year-old in Europe can invest in Tesla by buying a fraction of a Tesla stock. All within seconds and from the comfort of her home even though Tesla is an US company listed on a US exchange.
What's more, most of these apps don't charge a fee to buy and sell stocks so our budding investor can buy as little as £1's worth without having to pay a charge.
She can then brag to her friends about which 'super brand' stocks she owns such as Nike, Visa, Apple, Amazon and now Tesla, all for as much or as little investment she can afford.
The app that's received the most coverage in recent months is Robinhood. With 13 million users it's had a dramatic rise during the coronavirus pandemic as furloughed Americans invest their hard-earned money in the attempt to make more of it.
The app is not without controversy, of course, but Robinhood has given Americans access to the stock markets that was previously reserved for only a few. The video below outlines the story behind the app and why the founders created it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL3rk5aWKcg The Robinhood story
Financial apps in other countries are providing a similar service too. Trading 212 in the UK, Stake in Australia and INDmoney in India to name a few illustrate this is not just a US phenomenon but a growing global one too.
The proliferation of these apps come with risk and the occasional story in the media about an amateur trader who lost their life savings make the point. But it's the democratisation of the markets that seem the most interesting to me.
What does it mean when anyone anywhere can trade and invest in the same financial instruments as professionals do on Wall Street and in the City of London?
Unless there is some government ban there is not going back from here. The technological infrastructure is in place and communities of amateur investors are growing at a rapid rate.
This is more than just a passing but rather there is something more fundamental and long term taking place.
While we're still in the early days we're seeing a growing number of examples of where online communities and influencers are moving asset prices.
If you've spent any time lurking around the bitcoin community on Twitter or Reddit as I have you may have come across the term 'hyperbitcoinization'.
This is the theory where bitcoin surpasses all global currencies, including the US dollar, to become the world's reserve currency and, ultimately, the world's only currency.
The hyperbitcoinization theory is, of course, just that - a theory. At the time of writing, the dollar is very much still the world's reserve currency and the eleven-year-old bitcoin has a market cap of $183 billion with comparatively low adoption.
If hyperbitcoinization was ever to happen it would require a devaluation of the world's major currencies and thus forcing governments and people to adopt The Bitcoin Standard.
Given we are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the dollar's position as the world's reserve currency is likely to strengthen in the short-term as investors see it as a safe-haven to temporarily preserve wealth as financial turmoil and trade wars begin to play out in the coming years.
As the Federal Reserve continues to print off trillions of dollars via quantitive easing to prop up the struggling US economy this may eventually devalue the dollar or, worse, destabilise it.
The severity of the situation in the years to come will dictate the odds of bitcoin - or something like it - becoming the global reserve currency.
While this might sound farfetched it is in fact the normal state of play. New currencies have surpassed old ones for thousands of years.
The changing of currencies
The Latin definition of the word currency means 'in circulation' and before the invention of coins shells were the most circulated form of money and traded throughout the world. So too was silver and more recently gold.
Modern paper money was originally backed by the amount of gold stored in a country's vaults known as the gold standard. Today, however, paper money is not backed by anything other than a country's promise to honour it.
The world's reserve currency has also changed throughout history and is usually correlated to the country with the most powerful military.
From 1450 to 1530 the world's reserve currency belonged to the Portuguese. Then from 1530 to 1640 the Spanish, 1640 to 1720 the Dutch, 1720 to 1815 the French, 1815 to 1920 the British and from 1920 to present day the USA.
The connection? The country with the world's reserve currency was (or is) the global superpower at the time.
If history is anything to go by, the US dollar will lose its status as the world's reserve currency eventually. The question is what will dethrone it?
Despite being the world's second largest economy China has little to no interest in making the renminbi the global reserve. As an exporting nation and with cheap labour the Chinese government prefer to keep the renminbi relatively weak alongside other currencies.
It's also worth noting that historically the changing of a world reserve currency usually involves war. The last time followed World War 1.
The function of money
Money has to fulfil three functions to be a viable currency. These are:
A medium of exchange - facilitating the exchange of goods and services A unit of account - a measure of value in the economic system A store of value - allowing individuals to decide when they spend it
All currencies throughout history have, to some extent, met these three criteria. The dollar, pound, yen etc all do along with being backed by strong democratic governments.
Most currencies are increasingly losing their function as a long-term store of value as you can see with the dollar in the illustration below.
Decline of the dollar / howmuch.net
To preserve wealth today one must keep it in assets rather than money because of inflation. The value of the dollar decreases over time where the value of an asset such as gold, stocks, property and so on tends to increase over time.
Scott Guthrie is a strategic influencer marketing consultant, conference speaker, guest university lecturer, top 10 PR blogger, and media commentator. He is co-chair of the CIPR influencer marketing panel, a PRCA council member, a founding member of the BCMA influencer marketing steering group and an editorial board member of both Talking Influence and Influence publications.
Show highlights
1:57 Looking ahead to 2020 and beyond in influencer marketing.
2:45 The shifting demand for influencer data.
7:37 The importance of storytelling.
11:40 The virtual influencers.
17:07 Michael Bloomberg's campaign working with influencer marketing platform.
21:40 Influencers exploiting the coronavirus to increase engagement.
26:44 Influencer marketing on Instagram.
38:33 The wider influence sphere going beyond influencer marketing.
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
Scott's influencer marketing trends for 2020 - sabguthrie.info
Scott's influencer marketing in 2019 review - sabguthrie.info
Scott on Twitter - @sabguthrie
Scott and Ste's first podcast - stedavies.com
Lil Miquela - wikipedia.org
Billionaire presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg assigns chunk of advertising budget to influencer platform Tribe - mumbrella.com.au
Alexandra Pavliuc is a social network analyst, whose research on disinformation operations has been published by NATO Defense Strategic Communications and funded by the Mozilla Foundation. Findings from her research have been disseminated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Engineering & Technology Magazine, and The Startup.
Alexandra has collaborated with government bodies to develop disinformation research tools, and teaches data science for Decoded in London. Alexandra holds an MSc in Data Science from City, University of London, as well as a BA in Professional Communication and a Minor in Physics from Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada.
Show highlights
1:13 Alexa introduces herself and her main focus areas in social network analysis.
2:06 Alexa introduces the research she carried out looking at state-backed disinformation operations on the Twitter platform.
5:28 Alexa provides a description on what disinformation in social media means
8:27 Comparing the datasets from six different state-backed disinformation operations.
15:07 Are the social networks more open with sharing data and information with third-party analysts?
17:33 Describing the Internet Research Agency.
20:55 Which countries are the most sophisticated when it comes to influence operations.
23:55 China's use of Twitter accounts during the Hong Kong protests.
27:47 The growing industry of social network analysis for disinformation campaigns.
32:38 The one book Alexa recommends everyone should read.
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
Alexa's Twitter research - medium.com
Alexa on Twitter - @APavliuc
Alexa on LinkedIn - linkedin.com
Columbian Chemicals Plant explosion hoax - wikipedia.org
Twitter shuts Chinese accounts targeting Hong Kong protests - apnews.com
The Global Disinformation Order: 2019 Global Inventory of Organised Social Media Manipulation - ox.ac.uk
Alex's book recommendation - How To Win The Information War
Des Martin is Head of Marketing & Growth at Brave. Prior to joining Brave Des lead marketing teams at Qualtrics, nearFrom and Perkbox. His north star is to do interesting things with interesting people. He is passionate about building a better web with new business models for content creators.
Show highlights
1:48 Des introduces himself and the Brave browser.
10:59 Do consumers understand how much surveillance capitalism is tracking them and what is driving adoption?
14:43 User growth and migrating from Google Chrome.
17:59 Engaging with the Brave community on social media.
19:51 The Basic Attention Token and privacy-respecting adverts.
27:25 The two books Des recommends everyone should read.
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
Brave browser - brave.com
Des on Twitter - @dessie_martin
Des on LinkedIn - linkedin.com
Ste's deep dive into his online privacy - stedavies.com
Brave founder Brendan Eich - @BrendanEich
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World - Amazon
Trey Ratcliff is an artist on a somewhat quixotic mission to help spread consciousness and mindfulness to the world through photography and creativity. Running the #1 travel photography blog in the world, StuckInCustoms.com, has taken him to all seven continents over the past decade, and Google has tracked more than 140 billion views of his photos, all while building a social media presence with over 5 million followers.
Chris Anderson from TED called him a “pioneer” of the now ubiquitous genre of High Dynamic Range photography. Ratcliff had the first HDR photograph to hang in the Smithsonian Museum and, sales of his large-format limited edition prints to fine art collectors worldwide have grown into a multimillion-dollar business. In 2012, he moved his family and photography business to Queenstown, New Zealand, before it became a trendy doomsday contingency plan. He is based there with his wife, three children, and their dog, Blueberry.
Show highlights
2:18 Trey introduces himself and what he does.
3:45 Trey discusses the background of his new book came about and why he decided to write it.
7:53 Influencer hollowness, identity crises and personal growth.
13:23 How big is influencer fraud? Is Instagram complacent or complicit?
15:31 If Instagram is the economy and engagement is the currency what do we do when a lot of the currency is fake?
21:21 How do we get back to the early days of social media when it was a positive and optimistic place?
23:50 Psychedelics for mental health and emotional trauma.
28:50 Narcissism and higher consciousness. The conflicting effects of social media
31:23 Trey's journey into photography and mindfulness.
32:34 Are there still opportunities for budding photographers in the era where everyone has a camera?
38:45 Trey's favorite city, meal and quote.
39:22 The one book Trey recommends everyone should read.
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
Trey's blog Stuck In Customs
Under the Influence - How to Fake Your Way into Getting Rich on Instagram: Influencer Fraud, Selfies, Anxiety, Ego, and Mass Delusional Behavior (Amazon)
Trey on Instagram
Trey on Twitter
Trey's How To Build Real Influence online course
Sapiens book
Dunbar's Number
Alan Watts
Terence McKenna
Nic Yeeles is the co-founder & CEO of Peg.co, an end-to-end software platform that powers influencer marketing for 1,700+ leading brands & agencies, across 169 countries. At just 12 years old, Nic started making videos as a hobby. He has since founded a video production company, a creative agency and co-ran the fastest growing YouTube channel in the world (gaining ~100m views) prior to building Peg. Along the way he’s worked with major global brands including Sony Music, Unilever, Adidas and Microsoft, as well as working with high profile online and offline personalities including Simon Cowell, Skrillex and Zoella.
In his spare time he hosts Ponder Wanders, where he brings together the brilliant minds of deep thinking entrepreneurs, scientists, writers and more, to discuss some of the toughest philosophical questions facing humanity over long walks in the countryside.
Show highlights
1:51 Nic introduces himself and Peg the company he co-founded.
5:48 Why Nic believes influencer marketing is becoming more performance focussed.
6:49 Nic's thoughts on the democratization of influence.
8:25 Removing content stimuli.
13:21 Why the EU's Article 13 could be "devastating" for YouTube and creators.
17:43 Is YouTube trying to be more like Netflix and abandoning creators?
21:25 Why YouTubers develop a deep connection with their audience.
26:30 Nic's experience of learning to code and the benefits of it.
31:03 Nic's predictions on the future of influencer marketing over the next 12 months and the next five years.
36:55 Quickfire three: Nic's favourite city, meal and quote.
38:18 The one book Nic recommends everyone should read.
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
Peg
Nic on LinkedIn
Article 13
The Power of Glamour book
Superfreakonomics (Amazon)
Rachel Miller is the Director of All Things IC and advises Internal Communicators via training, consultancy and her popular blog. Her clients include ARM, BBC, LEGO, NHS, Transport for London and British Red Cross. She’s a highly experienced and multiple award-winning practitioner who has trained hundreds of Comms pros via her monthly and bespoke Masterclasses. Communicators say working with her increases their skills and boosts their knowledge and confidence.
Rachel is a Chartered PR professional and Fellow of both the Institute of Internal Communication and Chartered Institute of Public Relations. You can find her online via her website www.allthingsic.com, @AllthingsIC on Twitter and @rachelallthingsic on Instagram.
Show highlights
1:21 Rachel introduces herself and her background.
3:27 The current state of employee advocacy.
6:29 Glassdoor and internal communications.
9:41 The original promise of employees being the voice of a brand didn't materialise.
13:37 Are brands concerned about advocates using social media in the current climate of toxicity?
15:02 The benefits of employee advocacy and what should a brand consider when embarking on an EA program?
20:20 What makes a good employee advocate?
23:38 Where Rachel sees the future of employee advocacy in the next 12 months and the next five years.
25:46 Quick fire three: Rachel's favourite city, meal and quote.
27:07 The one book Rachel recommends everyone should read?
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
All Things IC
Rachel on Twitter
Rachel on Instagram
The Cluetrain Manifesto
Social Pro's podcast with Qualcomm's influencer marketing director
Andrew Kamphey curates insightful articles each week as the editor of Influence Weekly. He has lately turned his editorial lens to encompass all of the creator economy. Creating lists and charts that explore different aspects of influencer marketing.
Andrew has been working as a content creator for ten years, five of which spent on cruise ships as a videographer as well as working in the LA Film and TV industries. Andrew is currently traveling Southeast Asia.
Show highlights
1:35 Andrew introduces himself, Influence Weekly and how he got started.
5:22 The different ways creators can create money online.
11:15 How Instagram photographers monetize.
13:38 The platforms that are the most lucrative for creators.
15:38 How many content creators are making a full-time living.
18:56 The projected financial growth of influencer marketing.
21:51 Andrew's advice on anyone starting out and looking to monetize.
23:25 Are we in the golden age of influencer earnings?
27:14 Where Andrew sees influencer marketing heading in the next 12 months and the next five years.
30:25 The one book Andrew recommends everyone should read.
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
Influence Weekly
Influence Directory
RewardStyle
Lost LeBlanc
SecondLife
Harry Hugo co-founded influencer-first marketing agency, Goat, in 2015 and since then the company has grown from 3 to 120 staff in three years, with offices in London, New York, Singapore and Monaco and has worked with brands including BBC Sport, New Look and Malibu.
As Chief Campaign Officer Harry oversees campaign success, ensuring the strategic fit of influencers with wider brand goals. Harry set up his first business when he was 16, a football fan site network with 60 websites and over 500 global writers. He was then invited to write for Liverpool’s official website as an influential blogger. He then became Head of Social at Sportlobster by 18 during which built relationships with every major influencer in the UK.
Show highlights
1:35 Harry introduces himself, Goat and how they got started.
3:58 Human to human marketing. Goat isn't a tech platform.
6:58 Where the current opportunities are for influencer marketing.
9:50 Vlogging on LinkedIn.
12:07 Harry's view on influencer marketing platforms.
14:03 Instagram potentially removing the visibility of engagement.
15:58 On the Tools and the opportunity for niche content and audiences at scale.
17:57 Which part of a brand's budget are new influencer agencies like Goat getting?
18:40 The industries Goat predominantly work in.
19:57 Working with influencers in Formula E.
24:04 Harry's advice to someone looking to grow their own brand in social media in 2019.
25:57 Where Harry sees the future of influencer marketing in the next 12 months and the next five years.
28:57 The one book that Harry recommends everyone should read.
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
Goat agency
Goat's vlog on LinkedIn
Influencer marketing platforms
Arron Shepherd on LinkedIn
On The Tools
Ste's podcast with Chris Henley
Ste's podcast with Chris Stokel-Walker
Formula E
Zac and Jay show crash The Drum Awards
Rand Fishkin is the founder of SparkToro and was previously co-founder of Moz and Inbound.org. He’s dedicated his professional life to helping people do better marketing through the Whiteboard Friday video series, his blog, and his book, Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World.
When Rand’s not working, he’s most likely to be in the company of his partner in marriage and (mostly petty) crime, author Geraldine DeRuiter. If you feed him great pasta or great whisky, he’ll give you the cheat code to rank #1 on Google.
Show highlights
1:51 Rand introduces himself, his background and what he's up to at SparkToro.
3:59 Moving from an SEO specific role at Moz to a broader influence-related one with SparkToro.
5:43 Going beyond Instagram and YouTube and taking a holistic view of how people are influenced.
15:05 Rand's Twitter algorithm experiment where he found it prioritizes comments over retweets and likes.
17:37 If Instagram hides likes will it impact third-party companies that depend on using them for data?
22:42 Ste asks Rand if he thinks we're moving into an era where 'traditional' disciplines are merging.
26:03 Keeping up to date with SEO changes and trends is a daily practice.
27:09 Influence... not Influencers. Rand's presentation on why the current field of influencer marketing is too narrow.
31:58 Rand's advice on building a brand in an era of where we're up against the search and social algorithms.
34:44 Influencer marketing in the B2B space.
39:15 The algorithmic censorship of reach.
42:50 The one book Rand recommends everyone should read.
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
SparkToro
Rand on Twitter
Rand's book, Lost and Founder
Rand's wife, Geraldine, wins James Beard Award
Engagement analysis of Facebook Live and YouTube watch times vs podcast listen times
Jack Dorsey wouldn't introduce the like button if we was starting again
Instagram creator accounts
Instagram is testing hiding likes
Rand's Slideshare deck - Influence... Not Influencers
No-click searches
SparkToro's trending section
Rand's To Retweet or Not To Retweet flowchart
Student mocked on Tinder now modelling Asos dress
Chris Stokel-Walker is a British journalist whose work regularly appears in WIRED, The Economist and Newsweek. He is known for breaking major news about YouTube and often reports on the site for television, radio and podcasts. For YouTubers he has travelled around the world, attending YouTube events and speaking to behind-the-camera producers and powerbrokers, including key creators and talent managers.
The Atlantic’s Taylor Lorenz has said: “No one understands the intricacies of YouTube like Chris Stokel-Walker. His reporting on the platform and its creators has been groundbreaking and unparalleled. He captures stories about how YouTube shapes modern life in ways you would have never thought of.”
Show highlights
1:45 Chris introduces himself and why he wrote the book.
4:00 YouTube the cultural phenomenon in numbers.
7:03 The traditional media's understanding of YouTube.
12:12 Niche content creators on the YouTube platform.
15:49 YouTube as a search engine.
17:37 Is YouTube moving away from the creator space to be more like Netflix?
21:50 Is there still an opportunity to grow a YouTube channel from scratch today?
24:35 Chris gets called out by YouTube sensation, Casey Neistat.
28:37 YouTubers growing out of their online personas as they get older.
34:25 Chris's predictions for the future of YouTube for the next twelve months and the next five years.
38:45 The one book (other than his own) Chris recommends everyone should read.
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
YouTubers: How YouTube shook up TV and created a new generation of stars. (Amazon)
Logan Paul
MrBeast
Ultimate Handyman
Moorsey Scratchcards
Lofty Pursuits
YouTube Adpocalypse
Casey Neistat calling out Chris's Bloomberg article
Chris's Bloomberg article
Charlie McDonnell
Parasocial relationships
TwitchCon Europe
Everybody Lies book
There are two companies in the world that know more about you than perhaps you know about yourself. Both of which are, of course, Facebook and Google/Alphabet.
In this podcast we focus specifically on Facebook Inc and how to stop its list of services (namely Facebook, Instagram and Messenger) from harvesting your public and private data and behaviours and selling it on to advertisers.
Data collected from what we do online is used against us. There are no benefits to us, the Facebook Inc user, in the surveillance and data harvesting exchange.
The phrase, ‘If the service is free, then you are the product’ is often used to explain why Facebook's services don't come with a financial cost but author Shoshana Zuboff explains in her book, Surveillance Capitalism, ‘You are not the product; you are the abandoned carcass.’
In this podcast you'll learn how to stop Facebook Inc from tracking your every move both on its own platforms and across the web. You'll learn how to turn off advertising tracking, location tracking, face recognition and more.
Show highlights
2:14 Timeline of Facebook's data breaching events
5:33 Everything Facebook knows about you
9:46 Why care about your privacy and what Facebook knows about you
12:00 How to stop Facebook tracking you in your ad preference settings
18:20 How to turn off your location so Facebook can't track where you go
19:19 How to turn off Facebook's facial recognition
20:17 Turn off the 'Off-Facebook' activity
21:15 Unlike Facebook pages
22:15 Using a privacy browser so Facebook can't track you around the web
24:19 Using a smartphone firewall to stop non-Facebook apps from sending data to Facebook about you
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
Turn off Facebook ad preferences - facebook.com
Turn off Facebook location settings - facebook.com
Turn off face recognition - facebook.com
Turn off 'off-Facebook' activity - facebook.com
Unlike Facebook pages - facebook.com
Why you need to ditch Google Chrome and use the Brave browser - stedavies.com
Brave browser – brave.com
Tag Explorer - chrome.google.com
Lockdown iOS - apple.com
With a passion for technology, marketing and sales, Aron Levin co-founded the leading global influencer marketing agency Relatable in 2015. As Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer at Relatable, Aron is leading Relatable's rapid expansion across its offices in Stockholm, London, New York and Los Angeles.
Working with clients like Heineken, Google, Chiquita and Ralph Lauren, Relatable is rapidly changing the modern digital media landscape for Fortune 500 consumer brands, brave startups and the 10 million creators in their network. Aron is also known for his background at King Digital Entertainment (Maker of Candy Crush and 100+ other games) where he led Advertising Operations and in his role as Director Growth at music-streaming service Spotify.
Aron is also the author of The Influencer Marketing Handbook and The 2019 Content Marketing Calendar. He lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife and two kids.
Show highlights
2:30 Aron introduces himself, his background and the co-founding of Relatable.
3:50 The decentralization of attention and the fragmentation of the media.
6:58 The founding of Relatable in Sweden and influencer marketing in the US.
10:55 Lessons from Coachella. How social media is changing popular culture.
15:50 The democratization of celebrity.
19:37 Are influencer marketing platforms disrupting the traditional agency model?
21:05 Aron's thoughts on Spotify moving into podcasting and the podcasting industry in general.
25:56 Instagram testing hiding likes and why this is the evolution of the platform.
32:12 Instagram inviting influencers to test creator app.
33:59 Aron's thoughts on the current state of IGTV.
36:48 The biggest pain points for brands getting into influencer marketing.
39:50 Where Aron sees the influencer marketing industry heading in the next twelve months and the next five years.
44:35 Why distribution power is more important than building a brand.
51:43 The one book (or three books) Aron recommends everyone should read.
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
Relatable
Aron on LinkedIn
Coachella Killed Music
Spotify's podcasting acquisitions
Podcast strategies for Spotify
Instagram is testing hiding likes
Instagram is inviting some users to try creator accounts
The New York Times internal memo about BuzzFeed
Black Swan by Nicholas Taleb
The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
Deep Work by Cal Newport
In this podcast we discuss the importance of good password hygiene and management.
Too many times people use weak passwords across multiple sites and services exposing themselves to hackers and data breaches. In fact, a recent study by the UK government's National Cyber and Security Centre found people are still using ultra-weak passwords like 123456 and qwerty leaving themselves wide open to a hack.
Every password you use across every website needs to be at least 15 characters long, made up of letters, numbers and symbols, and, most importantly, has to be unique and used only once.
Of course remembering these types of passwords is almost impossible unless you have an autobiographical memory. For those of us who don't, this is where a password manager comes in.
In this podcast we discuss the rules of good password hygiene, using password managers, the different types of password managers and much more.
Show highlights
1:27 The basic rules of good password hygiene
3:19 A guide to two-factor authentication
6:54 What is a password manager?
7:20 The benefits to using a password manager
10:40 The types of password managers available
17:10 Which type of password manager should you use?
18:26 How much do password managers cost?
19:59 Backing up your passwords and password manager
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
Most hacked passwords revealed - ncsc.gov.uk
Google Authenticator - google-authenticator.com
Authy - authy.com/
Yubikey - Amazon
KeePassXC - keepassxc.org
Bitwarden - bitwarden.com
LastPass - lastpass.com
In this podcast we discuss the Brave browser - a privacy browser that's been developed to prevent you from being tracked across the web.
The humble web browser is perhaps one of the most important software creations to date. It turned the internet into a consumer-friendly medium spawning the creation of the various online services we use today.
It is one of the few online tools most of us use multiple times a day. Yet, many people still don't give much thought to the browser they use. In their eyes, all browsers are the same which in reality is far from the truth.
While Google Chrome is a good browser, it is laced with tracking software that makes it more like spyware than a helpful browser. Using it, you subject yourself to thousands of data trackers every single day.
Your data is valuable and that's why consumers need reclaim the web back from corporate surveillance. A good place to start is by taking back control of your browsing data. Brave will help you do that.
Show highlights
2:02 Why you need to get rid of Google Chrome
3:30 Why you need to use a privacy browser?
4:48 Why I recommend most people should switch to Brave
5:56 The privacy benefits of using the Brave browser
8:31 Brave's usability alongside Chrome
10:05 How Brave is looking to reinvent the broken online ad model
13:49 Final thoughts on using the Brave browser
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
Brave browser – brave.com
Browser market share – netmarketshare.com
Brave reaches 12 million MAUs - cryptobriefing.com
Browsing the web with privacy with Des Martin from Brave - stedavies.com
Brave deemed most private browser in terms of phoning home - zdnet.com
Basic Attention Token (BAT) - basicattentiontoken.org
In this podcast we’re discussing virtual private networks or VPNs as they're more commonly known.
As we've seen over the last few years, online privacy is almost non-existent. At any given time, what we do online is being tracked by internet service providers, large advertising companies like Google and Facebook and even hackers looking to steal personal details about us.
The fight back has begun as more people begin to realise how unprotected their online privacy is especially in modern times of the coronavirus and how we increasingly depend on the internet in our day-to-day life.
While you can never have total online privacy, you can take steps to protect yourself from surveillance capitalism, identity theft, cyberstalking and any other unscrupulous people or technologies.
As one of the best methods of protecting online privacy, this podcast provides a guide to VPNs including how they work, the benefits of using them, what to look for when choosing one and more.
With this in mind, this podcast provides a guide to VPNs as they are one of the best methods of protecting your online privacy.
Show highlights
1:08 The benefits of using a VPN
4:05 The cons of using a VPN
5:07 What to look for when choosing a VPN
9:17 VPN provider recommendations
12:29 How much do VPNs cost?
13:49 Should you use a free VPN?
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
That One Privacy Site - thatoneprivacysite.net
NordVPN - nordvpn.com
ProtonVPN - protonvpn.com
Surfshark - surfshark.com
Lisa Targett is UK General Manager of TRIBE, the self-serve marketplace that connects brands with everyday people to celebrate them through beautiful content. Lisa joined TRIBE from Mail Advertising where she was responsible for 65% of the publisher's UK digital revenue, after successfully establishing their standalone commercial operation in Sydney.
Within her first year at the helm, TRIBE UK’s revenues have soared beyond forecast - accounting for over 65% of global revenues and showing no signs of slowing. TRIBE now sees over £175,000 worth of branded content flow through the platform every day. In recognition of such achievements, she has been named in The Drum’s #50Under30 and named one of Diversity Journal's Women Worth Watching in 2018.
She is widely acknowledged as a thought-leader within Marketing & Advertising, delivering keynotes at Decoded, Millennial2020, PRWeek, Ad:Tech and frequently commenting on industry news for The Drum, Campaign & Business Insider. She also sits on the Wholeinfluence Council and is a member of the IAB's Future Trends and Content & Native Advisory groups - each designed to create, maintain, and define standards in the influencer marketing industry.
Founded in Australia in September 2015, and launched in the UK in April 2017, TRIBE has connected over 11,500 brands with 50,000 influencers generating 650,000 pieces of branded content globally for the likes of Unilever, Amazon, Topshop, American Express, Selfridges, Mars and Diageo.
Show highlights
2:03 Lisa introduces herself and TRIBE
9:50 Is the industry saturated?
11:25 Price points and apps. How TRIBE works with influencers.
14:23 Influencer marketplace or influencer platform?
16:04 Macro-influencer or micro-influencers?
20:15 Who owns influencer marketing within a company?
23:25 The visual aesthetic. Why people follow creators on Instagram.
26:25 The democratization of advertising: "The world's advertising can be generated by the very people it's designed to attract."
29:50 Is influencer marketing disrupting the marketing industry?
31:30 Lush UK announcement. Is this the beginning of a new trend?
33:39 Is it cost-effective for brands to use influencers?
37:29 Instagram the most interesting platform for the foreseeable future.
41:47 Where Lisa see the influencer marketing industry in the next twelve months and the next five years.
47:00 The one book Lisa recommends everybody reads.
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
TRIBE
Lisa on Instagram
Lisa on Twitter
Lisa on LinkedIn
The Drum 50 Under 30
Ste's podcast with Mat Spade
Alex is an experienced television presenter, having joined Sky Sports in 2003. He has fronted their rugby union coverage for the last decade as well as presenting tennis, poker and on Sky Sports News and Sky News.
Based on a true insight, he has developed and launched The Influence Room, which connects brands and people of influence over mutually beneficial opportunities. Alex has a strong understanding of the fast-changing media landscape and the world of the influencer.
Show highlights
1:35 Alex introduces himself, The Influence Room and his role there.
6:40 "Less gym monkeys and more tastemakers." The types of influencers The Influence Room has on its platform.
9:28 Influencers should be thinking about the long term.
11:48 The blurring of celebrity and social media influencer.
16:10 90% of brand deals on The Influence Room don't involve the exchange of money.
18:56 Do influencer marketing platforms are disrupting the traditional agency model?
20:35 Traditional media influencers vs social media influencers. Where does the most value lie?
23:00 Influencers have to take brands across multiple channels to be the most relevant and interesting for the long term.
24:00 Where Alex thinks the future of influencer marketing is heading in the next twelve months and the next five years.
29:18 The one book Alex recommends everyone should read.
Resources/People/Articles mentioned in the podcast
The Influence Room
Alex on Twitter
House of Rugby iTunes | YouTube
Adam (Sven) has over 18 years of media experience with seven of those at Spotify where he was the 4th person in the UK to join. The last three and a half years at Spotify Adam was the managing director for the UK, Ireland and Benelux.
He decided to leap into the rapidly growing influencer marketing space and that is where he joined Takumi as Chief Revenue Officer at the start of 2018. Sven’s main focus is to drive Takumi’s revenue strategy across all markets (UK, Germany, US) and to find new revenue streams to keep Takumi as the market leading Instagram influencer platform.
Show highlights
1:46 Adam introduces himself, Takumi and his role there.
3:21 Moving from the music industry to the influencer industry.
5:55 Why Takumi is focussed specifically on Instagram over other social channels.
6:57 Instagram vs YouTube. Why influencer marketing is flourishing on the Instagram platform.
9:31 Will Instagram's new in-app shopping feature be big for e-commerce?
11:40 Big ticket or small ticket items. Which sells best on Instagram?
15:00 What makes a good Instagram influencer?
17:24 Will Instagram (Facebook Inc.) throttle the organic reach on the platform like what happened with Facebook business pages?
20:38 Will IGTV become a success in the long term?
22:40 Instagram influencer fraud. Are we over the worst of it?
26:18 Where Adam thinks the future of influencer marketing is headed in the next 12 months and next five years.
29:10 The one book Adam recommends everyone should read.
Resources/People/Articles mentioned in the podcast
Takumi
Adam on LinkedIn
Adam's new CEO role announcement
The Influencer Marketing Awards
Instagram in-app purchase roll out
Instagram pods
Casey Neistat
Over the last few weeks, there have been a number of examples of where building a brand online (whether you're an individual or a company) in the long term requires owning (as opposed to renting) as much of your own online real estate as possible.
Whether that's the recent Instagram outage, bloggers neglecting their blogs for Instagram, Amazon slashing royalties or YouTube demonetizing creators, the best long-term approach is to use social media platforms but don't be totally dependent on them
In this podcast I chat with Scott Guthrie on what influencers, organizations and anyone else looking to build a brand online should do for the long-term.
Show highlights
0:32 Ste introduces Scott and topic of podcast.
4:04 "What's the shelf life of an influencer?" Why content creators should be thinking about the long-term.
9:00 Influencers should think of themselves as brands and become platform agnostic.
13:34 Starting with an owned base using WordPress.
17:45 Why it's better to sell on your own site than on social media.
19:38 Brands can use their own platforms and marketing and PR power to incentivise influencers to work with them.
24:27 A whole new ecosystem will build up around supporting influencers.
27:28 Why Scott and Ste is long on influencer marketing.
29:02 Why personal branding isn't a dirty term.
Resources/People/Articles mentioned in the podcast
Scott's blog
Scott on Twitter
Will Smith's Bucket List
WordPress
FAANGS
Tom Peters
40% of startups aren't AI
Matthew Spade is a 33-year-old full-time freelance within the lifestyle and travel industry, with 10 years of experience with various job roles in the fashion industry. He live in Lancashire, UK with his wife, who also works in the creative industry.
Mat says as a content creator, from blogging and styling to interior design and travel photography, no week is the same. "I like to think I have built up a strong reputation within my industry of being consistent, down to earth and enthusiastic about what I do — from this I have crafted a set of skills which brands really seem to like as well as my easy-going approach to sharing my life."
Show highlights
1:56 Mat introduces himself and how he got started as a content creator.
8:35 Transitioning from blogging to micro-blogging on Instagram.
10:43 From packaging design to fashion. The types of topics Mat covers in his content.
13:19 The types of brand collaborations Mat does (and doesn't do).
18:30 Where brand collaborations come from. Influencer marketing platforms, Instagram the 'shop window' and building a network.
22:30 Will platforms like Instagram begin to throttle organic reach and should content creators be building their brands elsewhere?
26:30 The advice Mat would give to someone who wants to become a full-time content creator.
29:10 Where influencer marketing is headed in the future.
31:01 The one book that Mat recommends everyone should read.
Resources/People/Articles mentioned in the podcast
Buckets & Spades (Matthew's blog)
Matthew on Instagram
Matthew on Twitter
Matthew on Pinterest
Ste's interview with Kamiu Lee
Influencer
Monocle magazine
Tami Nealy is the VP of Communications at influencer marketing platform, Find Your Influence. Tami began her career working in professional sports before transitioning to the corporate world. During her seven years leading the corporate communications team at LifeLock, she executed hundreds of interviews as a corporate spokesperson, launched a partnership with the FBI’s Law Enforcement Education Development Association and helped lead the company to IPO.
Following this, she pivoted to supporting education technology organizations before joining Find Your Influence in August 2018. At Find Your Influence she is responsible for the development and execution of all internal and external communication strategies and corporate messaging.
Show highlights
1:52 Tami introduces herself, her background and her role at Find Your Influence.
5:13 What influencer relations is and how it differs from influencer marketing.
9:12 Isn't influencer relations an evolution of media relations?
10:35 Influencer relations vs influencer marketing. Which has the greater demand?
15:05 How the PR industry is adapting to working with social media influencers.
18:53 Is influencer relations more for B2B influencers who don't monetize their platforms with sponsored content?
20:27 Where Tami sees the influencer industry heading in the next twelve months and next five years.
23:30 The one book that Tami recommends everyone should read.
Resources/People/Articles mentioned in podcast
Find Your Influence
Lifelock
There's Not An App For That
Tami on LinkedIn
This week's podcast is on the new ACTIVATE research where the influencer marketing platform interviewed more than 110 marketing professionals focused on the influencer marketing space to "gauge their views on the most topical discussions in the world of influencer marketing today including fraud, unconventional influencers, and sponsorship saturation."
The report is called Double or Nothing. Betting Big on Influencer Marketing and I speak with ACTIVATE CEO, Kamiu Lee, about the research findings.
In this podcast we cover a lot of ground so you’re not going to want to miss it.
We cover everything from the KPIs brands are prioritizing when working with influencers, the number of influencers brands are typically working with, how they're re-leveraging influencer content on their own channels and in paid social and much more.
Show highlights
2:57 Kamiu introduces the report.
5:09 The most important KPIs brands use when measuring influencer marketing success.
9:11 Why brands are working with a greater number of influencers per campaign.
11:26 Are brands focusing on working with micro-influencers at scale over working with mid-tier and macro-influencers?
13:45 Brands preferring to work with nano-influencers and influencer duos over CGI and pet influencers.
16:37 Beyond the sponsored post. The ways in which brands are working with influencers.
18:57 Influencers are becoming 'micro-studios.'
19:55 Why influencers say no to brand partnerships.
24:42 When influencers promote products unrelated to their audience.
26:45 Brands are taking fraud more seriously this year compared to last.
33:27 Brands are leveraging influencer content by repurposing it organically and using paid social.
41:35 Will influencers have to build their own 'tech stack' to accommodate the greater complexity of working with brands?
43:08 Marketing spend on brand activation. Benefits of paid vs non paid.
Resources/People/Articles mentioned in podcast
Double or Nothing. Betting Big on Influencer Marketing
ACTIVATE
Kamiu on Twitter
Kamiu on LinkedIn
Ben Jeffries is a 23-year-old entrepreneur, specialising in influencer marketing and social media. Ben founded his second company, Influencer, at 18 and has since driven it to become an industry-leading business in marketing's hottest sector, raising their first round of investment on Crowdcube in under 24 hours.
Ben has since partnered up with YouTube sensation Caspar Lee as a co-founder and appointed him CMO, whilst leading his team to close a further £500k investment round for Influencer. Ben was recently named Media Week’s Rising Star and UK Tech Founder of the Year 2018 at the BMW i UK Tech Founder Awards.
Show highlights
1:54 Ben introduces himself, his company Influencer, how he got started and his role as CEO.
5:06 How the Influencer platform works.
8:14 The clients Influencer works with along with in-house and agency split.
9:21 The influencer marketing landscape in the UK.
12:31 The Competition and Markets Authority's influencer marketing guidelines.
16:35 The benefits of working with influencers across different channels.
20:39 How much do the social networks value influencers and content creators on their platforms.
21:44 Influencer marketing in the B2B space.
22:55 How Ben sees the future of influencer marketing over the next 12 months and the next five years.
26:40 Future plans for Influencer.
27:23 The one book Ben recommends everyone should read.
Resources/People/Articles mentioned in podcast
Influencer
Caspar Lee
The CMA influencer marketing guidelines
Captify
Grace Beverley
YouTube launches Stories feature
Blue Ocean Strategy
Transcript
Ste Davies: Ben, welcome to the podcast.
Ben Jeffries: Thank you very much for having me on the podcast. Really excited to be here.
SD: Delighted to have you on. To start off with, can you give us some background on yourself, your company, Influencer and your role as CEO there.
BJ: Of course, so I started the company back in 2015 but the brainwave for the company obviously came before then. When I was younger than I am now, I had a clothing company called Breeze and essentially I wanted to make it the next big thing.
I always thought that if celebrities wore my clothes that would really help. However I couldn't afford any celebrities nor did I know any celebrities. So, I'm a massive Chelsea football fan - sorry if that offends anyone who's listening - but I reached out to quite a few Chelsea reserve teams players on social media.
These guys had around 10 or 15 thousand followers on Twitter and I basically said, "If I give you fifty quid would you mind posting a tweet wearing my clothes?" So I started working with not just Chelsea reserve teams players but other reserve team players from up and down the country.
I branched out to models, fitness bloggers and all these people who had, you know, a very small following on social media but had some influence. And while I was building up this network I thought, "OK, other brands can benefit from this network as well."
So I decided that even though Breeze was really cool and I was loving it there'll be much more success in the future from launching an agency which connects brands with these influential content creators. I decided to put Breeze to one side and launch what Influencer is today and this was back in 2015.
Since 2015 there have been plenty of stories along the way, from multiple rounds of funding to taking on board new business partners. It has expanded from a small agency in my university room to an actual technology platform with a team of 28 based in Holborn.
SD: Wow. And I just want to point out to people listening that Ben you're still very much in your early 20s, right?
BJ: Yeah, I am actually 22, but 23 on Friday though.
SD: Wow when I was 23 I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. So you got started purely by accident and you fell into the space purely because of y...
Christopher Henley manages and runs the Influencer Marketing Show and the inaugural Influencer Marketing Awards which take place in London the 22nd and 23rd of October this year. He also has input into the delegate acquisition side of operations and as such speaks to brands from around the globe as well and the many agencies and platforms within th industry.
He is originally from the hospitality industry and having used content creators 9 years ago to promote a new restaurant he was the manager of in Bristol he has seen how things have drastically changed within the industry. His wife is a content creator and as such sees things from a creator perspective on a frequent basis. You can find Christopher on both LinkedIn and Twitter.
Show highlights
1:35 Chris introduces himself, The Influencer Marketing Show and The Influencer Marketing Awards.
3:18 What senior management and influencer marketing platforms to see in the influencer marketing industry for it to progress.
5:04 Chris talks about this year's Influencer Marketing Show and what he has planned.
7:12 The use of technology in influencer marketing.
8:57 The growing use of CGI influencers.
13:32 Why influencer marketing and performance marketing go together.
15:31 The current state and evolution of influencer marketing.
17:16 Influencer fraud.
19:05 Brands ahead of the curve in influencer marketing.
22:47 Chris's predictions on the future of influencer marketing.
27:12 The one book Chris recommends everyone should read.
Resources/People/Articles mentioned in podcast
The Influencer Marketing Show
The Influencer Marketing Awards
Goat Agency
Formula E
Amazon Influencer program
Lego popup shop
Fourth Floor Creative
Podcast transcript
Ste Davies: Chris, welcome to the podcast.
Chris Henley: Evening, Stephen, how are you?
SD: I'm really good, thanks. I'm glad we got to do this because we've been planning it for a couple of weeks.
CH: Yes, we've both been incredibly busy so thank you for being incredibly patient.
SD: My pleasure, my pleasure. So, to kick off with can you give us some background about yourself, The Influencer Marketing Show you're involved in and also The Influencer Marketing Awards and what your role is there?
CH: Indeed, my background is predominantly hospitality. I did that at university and worked in a range of hotels and really enjoyed the events scene like conference, banqueting and weddings.
I did that for a few years then went into the restaurant industry and that's my first experience of influencer marketing. We used to invite them along to openings of restaurants and what have you. I got fed up with the hours because they're shocking working within that industry so decided to work for the company here where I manage and run The Influencer Marketing Show and The Influencer Marketing Awards.
My role is split. I obviously speak to agencies, platforms and the tech providers to find out more about what they're doing in the industry. And help them have a presence at the events, whether that's speaking or sponsorship. I also like to find out what they do within the influencer marketing industry as it gives me that insight as to what's happening.
Another massive responsibility I have is the delegate acquisition. So it's my responsibility to speak with senior management in a wide range of companies around the globe and invite them to the events. These are paid-for events as well so when people come they are there to network with the right people so it's a win/win because I get to hear what senior management want and I also get to hear from the relevant influencer marketing agencies and platforms and find out what they want and then tie them all together so it's a good combination.
SD: Speaking about what they want, what do they want on both sides?
CH: Education is really the key thing and I think that's going to be the same ...
Albane Flamant is marketing manager at Talkwalker, where she coordinates the brand presence's in the United States, from influencer relationships to content marketing. She lives on Twitter and works with social media experts from all over the world on white papers and webinars about new technologies and digital trends.
She always has at least one book in her purse and has lived in 6 different countries over the last 12 years. Today we discuss the recently released State of Global Influencer Marketing report by Talkwalker which includes a number of interesting insights. You can reach out to Albane on Twitter (@AlbaneFlamant).
Show highlights
2:05 Albane introduces herself and Talkwalker.
2:52 Key findings from the global state of influencer marketing research.
4:35 Respondents rank influencer marketing as a top strategic priority for 2019.
6:37 Influencer marketing in the media.
9:07 The average number of influencers brands are working with.
15:38 The younger generation's favourite social platforms.
18:01 Increase in budgets for influencer marketing in 2019.
19:35 Albane introduces Influencer One, Talkwalker's new influencer marketing platform.
24:50 Brands are on a quest for authenticity both in how they present themselves and from the influencers they work with.
27:35 Influencer marketing as a competitor advantage.
30:49 The future of influencer marketing.
33:18 Influencer marketing and B2B brands.
36:22 The one book Albane recommends.
Resources/People/Articles mentioned in podcast
The report
Talkwalker
Influencer One
TikTok
Forrester New Wave report
Payless fake store stunt
Transcript
Ste Davies: Albane, welcome to the podcast.
Albane Flamant: Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here.
SD: Glad to have you on. Can you give us some background about yourself, Talkwalker, the company you work for and what you do there?
AF: Of course, my name is Albane Flamant, I'm Belgian which you can probably tell by my accent. I have a diverse background in journalism and international relations but I've always been fascinating by the social media ecoystem from social networks to social messaging.
That's how I ended up at Talkwalker. I've been for the company for three and a half years and for those who don't know us, we're a social listening analytics platform. We help brands and agencies all over the world protect their reputation, measure the reputation of their communications initiatives and promote their brand. Right now I'm based in New York and I'm the marketing manager for the United States.
SD: Now, I know that you've had a busy couple of weeks because you have recently conducted a research piece on the Global State of Influencer Marketing in 2019. Let's talk about that. Who was surveyed and what were the key findings from the research?
AF: Yeah, this survey has been my pet project for a while now. Because every year we do a social media trends article where we ask social media experts to give us their predictions for the next year and influencer marketing is that buzzword that came back every year. Based on what we saw with our clients and the feeling in the industry we felt like we were still in the experimentation phase for brands.
At Talkwalker we have a very strong community. We have over 2,000 clients and lots of people using our free tools so it's a nice community of PRs and marketing professionals so we decided to launch this survey to find out what was the state of influencer marketing in 2019.
Of course, there were tons of information in there but in terms of key findings, we can say that the main one is 69% of the people we surveyed ranked influencer marketing as an important or top strategic priority for their brand in 2019; 71% of influencer marketing professionals currently work with 50 influencers or less and finally, almost two thirds of the people we surveyed will increase the amount of mo...
In this podcast we’re talking about the future of social media and the macro trends on the horizon. And even though you can't predict the future by looking at the past, it's always worth paying a visit.
In 1995, Bill Gates wrote in his book about the future of the personal computer, The Road Ahead, “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don’t let yourself be lulled into inaction.”
Of course back then he was prophesying his vision to put a PC in every home which may seem silly today given the proliferation of computers but at the time it was a lofty goal.
Fast forward to 2010, when social media was starting to proliferate the world, the vast majority of people (myself included) would never have predicted the global impact it’s had on culture and society.
With this in mind, this podcast provides five upcoming macro trends to be aware of in the social media space.
Show highlights
1:49 The rise of decentralized social media platforms.
7:06 The rise of alternative social media platforms.
9:19 Privacy by default.
12:16 Podcasting becomes more professional.
15:19 Social media as a battleground.
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
Jack Dorsey's announcement making Twitter decentralized - twitter.com
Voice, the new decentralized social media platform - voice.com
3Speak, the decentralized video sharing site - 3speak.online
Telegram - telegram.org
OnlyFans - onlyfans.com
How to protect your online privacy and security - stedavies.com
Spotify is buying The Ringer - nytimes.com
Facebook has been reportedly launching its own cryptocurrency for the last couple of years. During this time it has made a series of external hires, created an internal crypto team, registered a crypto company and founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has hinted at payments being a priority for the company.
In this podcast we delve into what cryptocurrency is, the types of cryptocurrencies there are and everything we know about the Facebook cryptocurrency. Full disclosure, this is not investment advice.
Show highlights
1:10 Ste gives some background on how he fell down the crypto rabbit hole.
2:40 What are cryptocurrencies exactly?
4:18 Storing cryptocurrencies.
5:47 Bitcoin. The first and most famous cryptocurrency.
9:44 Altcoins. What they are and what they're for.
10:54 Facebook's cryptocurrency timeline.
12:26 What we know about the Facebook cryptocurrency.
14:17 How will Facebook's cryptocurrency be used?
18:09 What does this mean for other cryptocurrencies?
Resources/people/articles mentioned in the podcast
What are the Worst Bitcoin Losses Ever? Inc.com
Cryptocurrencies market caps - coinmarketcap.com
Bitcoin Volatility Index - buybitcoinworldwide.com
Coinbase - coinbase.com
Bitcoin - bitcoin.org
Ethereum - ethereum.org
Litecoin - litecoin.org
Monero - getmonero.org
Facebook is launching a new team dedicated to the blockchain. Messenger’s David Marcus is going to run it - vox.com
Facebook acquires team behind blockchain startup Chainspace - mashable.com
Facebook registers secretive ‘Libra’ cryptocurrency firm in Switzerland - coindesk.com
Facebook hires Coinbase employees amid continued speculation on its crypto ambitions - yahoo.com
Facebook plans June 18th cryptocurrency debut. Here’s what we know - techcrunch.com
Facebook plans outside foundation to govern cryptocurrency - theinformation.com
Bitcoin for beginners. The ultimate guide to cryptocurrency - stedavies.com
Kamiu Lee is the CEO of influencer marketing company, ACTIVATE which helps brands and influencers identify opportunities to partner together and tell engaging and compelling stories across social media, at scale.
In the last 12 months, ACTIVATE has engaged over 75,000 influencers, from nano-influencers to macro-creators, publishing more than 6,500 pieces of collaborated content per month.
Kamiu is an expert in the field of influencer marketing and is frequently quoted and interviewed in publications such as Fortune, Entrepreneur, Digiday, PR Week, eMarketer, BusinessInsider, The Business of Fashion and more.
Show highlights
1:04 Kamiu introduces ACTIVATE.
3:32 The current trends with influencers and content creators.
6:25 The main social platforms where brand collaborations are taking place.
16:04 Where influencer marketing sits within the wider marketing industry.
21:08 Influencer fraud and what to do it about it.
27:044 The professionalisation of influencers.
33:15 To work with nano-influencers or micro-influencers or both?
35:00 Where a brand should start in influencer marketing.
39:45 Where someone should start if they want to become an influencer.
45:43 The future of influencer marketing.
Resources/People/Articles mentioned in podcast
ACTIVATE
INFLUENCE blog
Bloglovin'
The Blonde Salad
The Skinny Confidential
The Snowball
The Outsiders
Podcast transcript
Stephen Davies: Kamiu, welcome to the podcast.
Kamiu Lee: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
SD: Glad to have you on. Can you give us some background on ACTIVATE, what it is, how it got started and what you guys do?
KL: Yeah sure. At ACTIVATE we are an influencer marketing technology and strategy company. So what that means is we have both a fully end to end platform that supports everything from influencer discovery, workflow management, influencer relationship management - a CRM to keep track of all your relationships with different creators, as well as measurement and amplification of that content to the right audience.
On the strategy side of things, we have what we call ACTIVATE Studio. We have a team of in-house influencer specialists ranging from folks who started working with digital creators since the very beginning when it started out with macro much larger creators. Today we tap these micro and nano-influencers as well in very scaled programs.
Where we started out vis-a-vis a lot of the other influencer marketing players that have popped up in recent years, we actually started out quite some time ago as Bloglovin' which is an influencer platform that started about ten years ago for bloggers and a way for them to discover great content that the community was publishing.
Bloglovin' continues to be our owned and operated media platform and is a way for us to promote and co-partner with creators within our network. In our mind, as a company we're really built around the influencer so from a content, promotional and audience development standpoint on the Bloglovin side to various brand partnership opportunities, whether it's financial monetisation through sponsored content or organic relationships with brands as well, that's what the ACTIVATE platform really helps to support so we are really influencer centric as a company.
SD: So you guys really cover the full spectrum of the influencer landscape. I can remember Bloglovin' from when I started blogging in 2005 and I remember you guys in the early days so you've obviously been around for quite some time and have seen the industry evolve and chance, what are the current trends you're seeing in the influencer marketing space. Are we seeing new trends?
KL: Yeah, when I think about what we're seeing from the Bloglovin' days until today the emergence of various types of content creators, that has only expanded rapidly over the last few years. What folks call the democratisation of media which is really...
Rob John is a senior manager at the not-for-profit Content Marketing Association. Previously to joining the CMA, he had a stint working in the Middle East, spent six years at Global Radio working on national campaigns for well-known stations such as Heart, Capital, Classic FM and Smooth and worked for an award-winning content agency where he headed up the digital PR department
Most recently Rob joined the CMA to help the organisation highlight best practices in content marketing and showcase them via their membership and awards.
Podcast transcription.
Stephen Davies: Rob, welcome to the podcast.
Rob John: Thanks for having me.
SD: So, content marketing. It's a relatively new term and relatively new industry so for people that don't know, what is content marketing exactly?
RJ: We are in a bit of a transition with content marketing and we're getting over the hurdle because content is everything you create for an audience whether it's a video or something for an influencer to run with or a microsite that will house FAQs. That would all come under the content blanket so content marketing is something you created for an audience, preferably your audience.
So basically that's how it has a lot of confusion around it because a lot of people might think, "Yeah we do influencer marketing" or "We do video" but you're creating content for your audience so you're in the content marketing industry.
SD: And everything we do in this day and age particularly with online, digital and social is content. Is that part of your role at the Content Marketing Association, to educate the media on what content marketing is?
RJ: Yeah definitely. Even in my brief time at the Content Marketing Association, I've been speaking to a lot of people who have been more traditionally in marketing for the last 15 or 20 years whether that be PR, advertising or marketing. What they've told me is that there's been a lot of change in how they come up with ideas. So it used to be a case where the editor or programme controller would give someone the brief and then the marketing team would go away, create a couple of ideas and then come back and pitch to the editor of the programme controller.
Now it's different, these teams are made up of maybe an editor, a couple of people in the marketing team, maybe a PR team, a graphic designer and these ideas are being shaped from an earlier inception really. And I liken it to a CSR - people always say CSR works best when you get the people who care about the end goal from the beginning. We all know that CSR works best when you're in it from the beginning and you can actually shape the industry. And that's what the thing with content is, we've noticed with a lot of our members the teams are now made up of a lot more different people rather than the old form really.
SD: Absolutely. You only have to look at what's gone in the PR, marketing and wider comms industry over the last ten years. More agencies have design departments, they have SEO departments, they have video production departments whereas ten 10/15 years ago that wasn't the case and everyone was kind of siloed to one particular discipline. But the media has fragmented so much that the old style of thinking and the old model wouldn't work in this day and age at all.
RJ: No you're right and also, in terms of a revenue thing as well. Years ago you might have had a video production company or a company that created your infographics and now it shouldn't just stop there. If you're creating videos for someone now we're talking about how are you going to distribute them? It's not just good enough to create the video, you've got to have a team that works on the distribution side of things.
Likewise for influencer marketing as well. That's such a hot topic and a lot of people withing influencer marketing has asked if it's PR or not PR. But if you take the influencer out of the equation and put a celebrity in,
Scott Guthrie is a former management consultant and digital director at global PR agency Ketchum specialising in influencer relations. Today he works with brands, agencies and platforms to generate meaningful results from smarter influencer marketing decisions.
Scott offers best practice advice and implementation across the entire influencer marketing workflow. His blog sabguthrie.info has been designated a top 10 PR industry blog by Vuelio.
When it comes to the growing field of influencer marketing and relations there is no one more clued up on the subject.
Podcast transcription.
Stephen Davies: Scott, welcome to the podcast.
Scott Guthrie: Well that was a glowing introduction. Thank you very much. I hope you're recording this so I can play it back to my mum.
SD. It's a pleasure. We'll get straight into it. In terms of the influencer marketing landscape, can you give us a topline overview of the current state of influencer marketing and where we're heading?
SG: We're at an inflexion point. For the last three or four year, influencer marketing has enjoyed unprecedented growth. Last year, as a term, 'influencer marketing' was googled more than 'social media marketing' and the industry is forecast to be worth as much as $10bn by 2020. But there's a change in mood in the media in how it portrays influencer marketing. There have been years and years of column inches dedicated to praising influencer marketing but 'dog bites man' isn't a story but 'man bites dog' is a story and so increasingly influencer marketing is being shown as a bad actor.
More and more stories are about influencer marketing fraud. Influencers failing to mark their posts as advertisements. There's a conflation of terms with influencer advertising being used in the same breath as influencer marketing. Where's the industry heading? I think we've reached this point of having to improve it. We need to, as communicators, better plan and better measure campaign success. With increased influencer marketing spend there's a greater need to demonstrate return on investment.
SD: Great. I think you're right, I think we are at an inflexion point as you rightly said and we're going through an era now where there is lots of negativity about influencer marketing. There are lots of negative articles in terms of whether it's to do with fraud or ethics or whether it's to do with actual return on investment in influencer marketing.
People say we're very much still in the 'wild west' phase of influencer marketing and when you think about it agencies have been engaging with influencers for a long time whether that's a journalist or an analyst or a key opinion leader in healthcare. But this relatively new idea of brands engaging with everyday people who just happen to build up an influence through these social media platforms is still relatively new. Would you agree that we're in this wild west phase where everything is still up in the air and essentially everything is still up for grabs?
SG: There has been unprecedented growth. I think with all of these nascent industries that experience these wonderful growth spurts there's always going to be growing pains as well. I think later in the conversation we're going to talk about Luka Sabbat and whether that shows whether we're still in the nascent phase or whether we're growing up.
There's a lot of column inches this year that have been devoted to influencer fraud for instance and influencer fraud, for sure, is a thing. One in eight Instagram influencers in the UK has shown signs of having bought fake followers according to a Campaigndeus report; one in four influencers have shown signs of having bought fake engagement according to Social Chain. Influencer DB, an influencer marketing platform, puts the cost of influencer fraud at $500 million a year.
Yeah, it's clearly a thing but I would sound a note of caution though from mainstream media from becoming too pious about this fraud.